The article discusses a methodological position that allows interpreting modes and, fist of all, musical modes as cosmographic and ethical objects without losing the approach to them as musical phenomena proper. The study is based on musical theoretical data relating to the period of Classical antiquity and the Middle Ages, as well as on the author's concept of modal ontology and the interpretation of modus as artistic content, developed by E.V. Nazaikinsky. In order to reveal the ontological prerequisites for the unity of the musical modus with a cosmographic or ethical phenomenon, the author analyzes the ancient Chinese system of tones lü, Indian ragas, ancient tetrachords, the voices of the Russian Orthodox znamenny chant. The features of the correspondence of these musical phenomena to the periods of the year or day, elements, archetypal states of the human spirit, social laws are revealed. In the course of the analysis, the question is formulated about the nature of the connection between musical modes and non-musical reality: was it exclusively conventional, established by virtue of tradition, or did it have other, essential reasons? The search for unconventional foundations of the unity of musical modes with natural and socio-ethical phenomena leads to its ontological interpretation. The relevance of this research method is argued in the process of critical analysis of the semiotic approach to musical modes as references or conventional signs of objects. It also demonstrates the unproductiveness of the psychoemotional interpretation of musical modes as stimuli that cause certain emotional states. The result of the research is the development of a specific musical-ontological approach based on the methodology of modal analysis. This analysis aims at a syncretic understanding of unity. In the light of this approach, it was concluded that the concept of musical modus not only clarifies the rhythmic and harmonic laws of the musical language, but also embodies the interconnection of the phenomena of music, human spirit, nature, and space.

The modal version of consciousness organization presuming the interpretation of all its functions and elements as moods, i.e. projections of one and the same ability or entity, is considered in this paper. As evidence in favor of this version, demonstrations of synaesthesia or intermodal translation are analyzed. Synaesthesia is interpreted as phenomenon indicating the primary premodal matrix of perception or amodal semantic code that not differentiated onto aural, visual, tactile, or other modalities.

The author specifies the origin of the terms “Copernican Upheaval” and “Copernican Revolution” considering the spatial interpretations of this philosophical metaphor, which was evoked by the Kantian analogy between his model of knowledge process and the model of the solar system by Copernicus. On the base of Solomon Maimon’s criticism and subsequent scientific discussion, the author studies the analogy between a rotation of celestial bodies and the conformity of objects to knowing reason. As the result, the author offers two approaches to the interpretation of the spatial analogy of the Copernican Revolution. 1) As the analogy of mobility (plasticity) and immobility (immutability) of celestial bodies / reason in relation to knowable objects. 2) As the analogy of relativity and absoluteness of movement / cognition, leads to the question of the starting point and direction of predication in cognitive trajectories.

The paper dedicates cosmological and ethical aspects of the musical modus. In the musicology, the notion of modus is referred to the certain modes and rhythms which have the sense of spiritual states and cosmic phenomena in some cultural traditions (ancient Greek, medieval Indian, Chinese, Russian). The study aims at the comprehension of music modus as the point of coincidence of harmonic, ethic, and cosmological dimensions intrinsic to music. The author interests in the ontological essence of the unity of natural or ethical phenomena and music modus considering the examples of the medieval Chinese system of tones "lyuj", antique moditetrachords, Indian ragas, and Russian Orthodox modes. The author puts forward the number of arguments against the semiotics approach to this unity. It is not a conventional ("by agreement") matching of the musical modi and cosmological or ethical phenomena. The author argues the musical modi should be considered more effective as elements of a musical ontology in the context of the multidimensional syncretic modal ontology.

No abstract